San Francisco is known – probably worldwide – for being on the “liberal” edge.
In the past few years they’ve put through a rather huge restaurant food waste recycling program, banned plastic bags in grocery stores, banned polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) food containers and most recently dug up a large chunk of City Hall lawn to plant a “Victory Garden” and host Slow Food Nation 08 last weekend.

The food from the garden is being donated to food banks.
And the garden itself serves as example, education and inspiration… as did the White House lawn turned Victory Garden by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943.

News comes out now that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome is expected to release the City’s first “food policy” in the upcoming months.
The policy is said to significantly push the line on “local” food growth.

According to Jared Blumenfeld, director of the city’s Department of the Environment within a 200-mile radius of San Francisco more than 80 different types of food and more than 20 million tons of it are grown a year.
I’m not sure, but I’m guessing this doesn’t include home gardens.

Blumenfeld also notes the Bay Area consumes about 6 million tons and San Francisco specifically about 1 million tons of food a year.

Reportedly Newsome wants – as much as possible – the food that’s served by the City government (schools, hospitals, prison, ect.) to be grown locally.

Additionally, the policy will also encourage home gardens, community gardens and fruit trees in median strips and abandoned lots.

The question comes… who will “tend” all the production. Will all those fruit trees come to drop ripe fruit on the ground to rot?

No doubt there are MANY details to turn “hey wouldn’t it be nice if we…” into a truly revolutionary change in how we grow and distribute food as well as changing our diet from largely processed food products to real food.
And along the way… our understanding and relationship to food.

As Newsom comments: “It’s better to invest in people’s health and wellness. What we’re doing will save money in the long run.”

Another San Francisco “zany idea” or a trail blazing evolutionary idea?

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Slow Food Nation ‘08 San Francisco City Hall

A beautiful sunny day, we arrived via BART for the first day of the Slow Food Nation ‘08 Celebration to tour the Victory Gardens in front of San Francisco City Hall.

Surreal View of City Hall Through the Victory Garden

It seemed almost surreal to see what was once a neatly manicured lawn now planted with such a variety of summer vegetables.

But once I realized this was all real I reveled in the abundance of food this garden was producing

Field of Chard in Front of San Francisco City Hall

 

Victory Garden Broccoli

Companion Gardening – Three Sisters: Summer Squash, Corn and Pole Beans

There was the classic example of companion gardening used by the American Indians called the ‘Three Sisters.’

Here the summer squash shades the ground for the corn to grow without competition from the weeds; the corn is the ‘pole’ for the green beans and the beans add nitrogen to the soil to feed the summer squash and the corn.

What a great collaborative effort in the name of survival – we can all learn from that even if we don’t eat our veggies.

Bricks made of worm castings to be added to your garden

There was also a compost demonstration area along with a section on worm composting. They had made some bricks out of worm castings that they plan to give away on Sunday. Other freebies included seeds from Ecology Action and the Food Network.

To round out the Slow Food Nation celebration – on one side of the Victory Garden, there were stands from a number of local sustainable farms showcasing one example of their many summer crops. Most of these farms attend many of the Farmer’s Markets that happen through out the week in cities around the Bay Area.

On the other side of the gardens were food stands selling hand crafted foods – most local and some from other parts of the US.

The Topsy Turvey Bus

All in all it was a great afternoon – educational and full of inspiration. In this topsy turvey world of food choices (what the heck should I eat?) and questions of food safety, there’s hope some will walk away with the desire to plant a few seeds.

After all, what’s healthier than home grown veggies? …and you’ll certainly know the source. So grab your worm casting brick, your packets of seeds and hop on the bus!

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Food irradiation involves zapping the food with ionizing radiation.
The radiation damages the DNA of micro-organisms such as E. coli and salmonella and kills them. Hence, no more food-born illness issue.

The FDA has been allowing this practice with meat and strawberries.
Since we’ve had numerous outbreaks of food related illness with spinach and iceberg lettuce the last couple of years, this is their solution.

A couple of notes:

• Organic produce is NOT irradiated.
• The regulation allows processors to irradiate, it does not force them to.
• Irradiation plants are expensive. I’m not sure how quickly food processors will jump on this… and of course the cost will be passed on.

Really, this is all part of the “food security” issue.
Farming is often very big business. Just like a widget factory, “efficiency” and “productivity” heavily influence profitability.

However, food is not a widget. In reality, it’s a living thing.

The greatest advance

Back in early 2007, the British Medical Journal polled a broad section of more than 11,000 people in the medical and scientific communities worldwide.

The simple question they asked was: What’s been the greatest medical advance in the last 166 years (1840-2006).

Now think about all the possible answers… all the “breakthroughs” we’ve witnessed in our own life time.

And the winner was:
Sanitation.

Yep, sanitation was the single greatest advance… clean water and sewers.

All the E. coli, salmonella and various bacteria and consequent food born illnesses are really the result of insufficient sanitation.

Sometimes because of the water used on the growing crops. Sometimes because of flat out poor – tho efficient – processes. Sometimes because fresh food just can’t be handled like widgets.

Processing massive quantities of fresh food and transporting it from field to processing plant, plant to warehouse, warehouse to grocery store, grocery store to summer BBQ is fraught with peril.

Compare the sanitation of your home bathroom with the conditions of the too few “port-o-lay’s” at a massively crowded rock concert.
Yea, sorry for the image.

Grow your own

Buying from local small farms at Farmer’s Markets or through CSA’s and buying organic improve your odds quite a bit.
And of course – grow your own.

  Banana box insta-salad garden

Create a lettuce box and a spinach box.
For the ultimate in ease and cheap – use a “banana box”.

Produce boxes are generally pretty heavy duty. This box is used for bananas. Melon boxes are good as well.
I collect them from a grocery store and use them mostly for dirt and manure and for seed starting.

In this case I doubled it by putting the bottom inside the top. There’s a cut-out in the middle of the bottom. I keep heavy paper over it… enough to keep dirt in and still allow drainage.
It’s best to sit these off the ground to allow air flow to the bottom.

You can get a bag of potting soil if you don’t have any good soil and you’re ready to go.

It’ll last a couple of growing seasons.
When it’s looking like it won’t last through another harvest, simply dump the soil into a new box and toss the worn box into the compost or recycle.

A different – and “safer” – take on the produce box.

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Slow Food USA is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting and celebrating the food traditions of North America through programs and activities dedicated to Taste Education, Defending Biodiversity and Building Food Communities. Slow Food USA believes that pleasure and quality in everyday life can be achieved by slowing down, respecting the convivial traditions of the table and celebrating the diversity of the earth’s bounty.

Slow Food Nation ’08 is part promotion for the cause, part education and part celebration of how far we’ve come since the Slow Food movement began in Italy in 1986. It is expected that 50,000 people will be participating in the festivities. We’re mainly interested in the Victory Gardens so will pop over to tour that.

Change

The point is that we can and do have a say in how our food is grown and we do not have to succumb to the industrialization of our food supply…we do not have to live the life of the Fast Food Nation.

While the Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco seems to celebrate perhaps the more gourmet (and costly) items on the food palate – certainly foods that are outside the budgets of the average person – we can take the message…the mission of Slow Food USA and find ways to make the changes that make sense in the context of our living situation.

For what is at stake – but the most precious possession of all – our health.

Industrialized food has been implicated as the cause of most of today’s chronic diseases. Study after study shows people who eat more fresh vegetables and fruit (read: less processed foods) are healthier.

Industrialized food’s dependence on oil is undisputed

• 10% of fossil fuel used in the US goes towards food production
• 40% of the energy used for food production is used for producing pesticides and fertilizers – that’s 5 ½ gallons of fuel per acre
• Fertilizer runoff is responsible for a ‘dead zone’ the size of New Jersey at the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico
• 23% of the energy used for food production is used for processing and packaging
• The food in the typical grocer has traveled an average of 1,500 miles

Industrial food has decreased our food diversity

• Historically we cultivated up to 7000 species of plants
• Today, 90% of our food comes from 15 plant and 8 animal species
• Biodiversity is important because a varied gene pool helps with natural pest and disease control as well as providing a more complete nutritional profile for our plate

Industrial food increases our chances of food borne illness

• Many processed animal products are made from a pool of thousands of animals from multiple sources. One diseased animal can contaminate thousands of pounds of product
• Even fresh produce can be pooled and repackaged before sent out to retailers
• These practices and others make it all the more likely for contamination and food borne illnesses to occur.

Fresher food, grown locally without chemical fertilizers and pesticides IS no doubt healthier for us – more nutrients, less contaminants – both chemical and microbial, less green house gasses, less pollution.

Do we need yet another multi-million dollar study to prove this to us? Don’t you know it in your gut?

It’s within our power to choose to commit to the principle of supporting sustainability and biodiversity for our food supply, though it’s not always the easiest (but surprisingly sometimes is) route to getting a meal into our stomach.

The beauty of moving toward a healthier food model though is – it isn’t an all or nothing proposition. We can slowly take steps towards improving the quality of what we put into our bodies. After all, we are worth the effort.

One way to start no matter where you shop is to cut back or stop eating altogether, processed foods: frozen dinners, canned soups, baked goods, etc. Buy and eat more vegetables and fresh meats. While many items may not be local you are reducing your consumption of industrialized foods.

Another place to start is your local farmer’s market as these markets have rules ensuring vendors are local. Peruse the items, shop, taste – learn what’s in season. Take home something new to try.

Another way to eat local and fresh is to plant a vegetable garden. Yes!
It can be anything from a few pots in a sunny spot on the front stoop or balcony to your entire backyard or maybe even replacing your front lawn.

It may very well be that the Victory in the Victory Garden is that of reclaiming our food – the source of our energy, vitality and health.

No matter how or where in the process you start, the important thing is to remember that every step, big or small, is a step towards a healthier food model which translates into a healthier you.

Eat your veggies!

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That may change in the future.
Home veggie gardens are starting to attract the endorsement – and even promotion – by large corporations.

Could veggie gardening be turned into another cereal box promotion of a Hollywood flick thing?

Demo farm by Burpees

Burpees announced this week a “Save $10,000 on Groceries” promotion.
They’ll be doing a display garden in Doylestown, PA which promises to show people how they can save $10,000 a year ($500 for urban dwellers with a container garden).

I haven’t found the specifics… $10,000 is A LOT of money. Not sure what the square footage of growing space will be or how large the family would be that could save $10,000.

Sidebar: We do plan to record our harvest for all of 2009 and try to calculate how much that would cost if purchased from a grocery store.

Anyway, Burpee is the largest seed company with a long history (founded in 1876). And they’re a Pennsylvania company. Nice they’re doing it locally.
So it fits.

Virtual garden by Hellmann’s

Also this week I read about Hellmann’s – the mayonnaise company – with an urban gardens program in Canada. They’re sponsoring 94 8×4 garden plots across Canada.

They’ve gone quite a bit further with their website. Basically they’re latching on to and promoting the “real food movement” and not in a dismissive, “lip service” way.

Their website is completely designed around it… they’ve setup a forum moderated by a chef (Chuck Hughes).
They’ve added educational materials including information about buying local.
They’ve partnered with Evergreen, an environmental non-profit for a garden section with “tips & tricks” and various guides.
And then there’s an application (which I spent a bit too much time on yesterday) that allows you to design your garden virtually.
You choose from a list of veggies and fruit and the application designs the garden.

Fringe to Mainstream

Some people will believe these corporation are only motivated by ulterior (profit) motives.
They are for-profit corporations. So I’m sure they have some marketing goals. That doesn’t necessarily make their intentions evil.

When movements go from fringe to mainstream, some may argue they get diluted or corrupted. Popular = unworthy.

Certainly if you broaden the base of participants, the level of commitment within that base will vary. And over time some individuals will become less enthusiastic.
However, other folks will be introduced to an idea that will stick with them. And will make a difference to them individually, in the lives they touch and perhaps to the world at large.

These “showy” corporate programs get noticed, get people talking, get people thinking, get people considering and questioning, and hopefully… get people doing.

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What if – like the sprawling lawn outside of San Francisco City Hall – a few more sprawling lawns were converted to food growing rather than need mowing?
What if?

During the Victory Garden movement Eleanor Roosevelt replaced part of the White House lawn with a garden. (Well, she probably had staff do it ).

And during the Victory Garden movement 41% of the nations produce was grown in about 20 million home gardens.
The population in 1943 was 136,739,353. So that’s one garden for every 6.8 people by my figuring.

The estimated population as of today at 19:10 GMT (little after noon my time) is 304,780,413. Keeping the same ratio of gardens to people, that would call for 44,578,287 gardens.

Now I don’t have any idea how many home gardens there are, including community gardens. But I’d venture to say we aren’t halfway there.

One could argue that teaching, promoting, educating, enabling, supporting home gardens does – in some part – address our “oil crisis”, health crisis, security and climate change. One could also argue it’s good for the brain and the soul…

And I would approve that message.

You can sign the petition to convert some of the White House lawn into a veggie garden here.

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The intentions were similar… have the population produce most of the food they need to free up large farm-produced food and transportation resources for the troops and allies. The tone was different tho.

Laura Lawson details “Community Gardening” in City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America.

There’s a great recap in Remembering the Victory Garden in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The languaging is quite interesting…
~ Sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage.” (Hmm, remember “Freedom Fries” a couple years ago).
~ In kicking off the festivities it was declared “the first food gun of the nation” had been fired.
~ Participating school children were called “soldiers of the soil”.
~ Land that wasn’t put to productive use was called “slacker land.” (Umm, gee, sounds like something I’d say).

The War Garden project was more militant in tone than the Victory Garden project. It was quite successful – 5 million gardens and $875 million worth of food grown. However, the Victory Garden project produced 20 million gardens.

Victory Garden leaders did position them as “for the cause”, but also emphasized the health and morale benefits.

I suspect folks acted more in National interests back then rather than self-interest.

Today’s gardeners – I believe – are acting partly in self-interest (economic, health, environmental), and partly in global interests (climate challenge, environmental pollution and population health).

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A locavore is one who eats locally grown food. Local often defined as grown within 100 miles.

So Carnivore – meat eating.
Vegetarian – vegetable (and fruit eating)… shouldn’t it be a Vegavore?
Locavore – engages in the sustainable practice of eating food grown or produced within 100 miles.

It’s officially a trendy thing now so reports The New York Times.

There are do-it-yourself locavores – people that grow most of their own food. Such as chronicled by Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

People that mostly seek out food produced within the 100-mile radius such as Alissa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon, The 100-Mile Diet.

And then there are people that have staff to take care of it… such as folks that have a private chef to do the foraging, or folks that hire someone to come into their backyard, create a vegetable garden, maintain it, and leave the harvest on their back porch.

It’s all good… and good for you.

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I believe the first adaptation of “War” was by the Johnson administration in the mid 1960’s – War on Poverty. Part of Johnson’s “Great Society”.
Seems a bit ironic since war is by nature destructive. I suppose this presumes destruction precedes greatness.

The sound bite certainly had emotional impact and was followed by war on drugs and various other wars. The “wars” seem to have gotten more trivial over time. Or at least they evoke less emotional response.

Wars are a big government thing.
Lots of soldiers, lots of equipment and resources.

What if you’re not big government but you want big change?
Individuals and small groups much less able to wage war.
But they can be guerillas.

I’ve long been familiar with guerilla marketing (I’m in the marketing field). I know the meaning by abstracting it.
But it’s not obvious to me out of context. I have my understanding of guerillas as a mammal. Based on that I don’t get it.

So… a little search engine work…
Guerilla means “small war”.
According to Wikipedia: the diminutive of the Spanish word guerra (war).

Back to the war thing.

A key element of the guerilla model is surprise. Working in small numbers, using “intelligence”, secrecy, deception and covert communications all contribute to stealth operations.
Speed is also important.

Guerilla-ites strive to avoid any confrontation at all… in small numbers, their strength is not brute force.

But wait, who cares about war – big or small. This is a gardening blog.

True. On point: Guerilla Gardeners.

Guerilla Gardeners are small groups of individuals that clean up neglected urban plots and plant a garden… often a flower garden, sometimes veggies. They generally swarm in over night. At 8pm you have a trashed up plot. By 8am you have a cleaned up plot with flowers and shrubs.

The movement took root in New York in the early 1970’s – credited to Liz Christy and her Green Guerilla group.
Guerilla garderners are throughout the world providing opportunities for neighborhoods to stop and smell the roses.

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The beds were planted over the weekend. Harvest is scheduled for Labor Day.

Not your typical City Hall thing to do. But this exercise is somewhat reminiscent of “Victory Gardens” which the government encouraged citizens to do during World War I & II… out of necessity.

Necessity is truly here again.
Food costs have been inflating dramatically. More people now cannot afford to eat nutritionally.

And there’s the food security issue… how many tainted food outbreaks have occurred over the past year?

And, we have global warming/climate challenge. On average, your food has traveled 1,500 miles to your plate… a not insignificant carbon footprint.
17% of our petroleum consumption is spent on farm food production and food processing, packaging, transportation and refrigeration. What you grow and harvest to eat decreases food related petroleum use.

The San Francisco Victory Garden Project is a public example and encouragement to reconsider our habits as well as our relationship with food.

City Slicker Farms is a co-creator of this project.
City Slicker Farms started in 2001 and is active in West Oakland (across the Bay from San Francisco).

Their goal is for 40% of West Oakland’s veggies and fruits to be grown in West Oakland through backyard gardens, community gardens and any plot of land they can put into production.
Noble goal.

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